TRANSCRIPT OF FEB. 7 STUDENT TOWN HALL: GREGORY WASHINGTON’S OPENING PRESENTATION

A full transcript of Dr. Washington’s 15-minute presentation from the Feb. 7 Student Town Hall addressing letters to the student body.

BY ERICA MUNISAR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Editor’s Note: Fourth Estate decided to deliver Gregory Washington’s 15-minute presentation from the as an unedited transcript for transparency towards the student body. 

Thank you all for giving me the opportunity to address you today. I got five slides I’m going to push through so that I can leave as much time for questions and engagement as you possibly can. 

As you all know, I’ve been getting a lot of emails from many of you and from many folks in our community, and so I want to take some time to address some of the questions that I’ve compiled upfront so that we make sure that those particular ones are answered because I get a lot.

So, why did we write letters? As you all know, I’ve written now probably some ten to 15 different letters on different issues. [Letters were sent to the student body by both the Office of the President and Office of the Vice President, however not all of the Vice President’s letters are available online.] We don’t just write those to opine on given issues. We write the letters for a reason, and I don’t sit and just write the letter myself. There’s a whole team of us, some 15 or 20 people, who together, we work to put out every single communication that comes across your desk. 

So why do we write? We write it for four reasons. One, to provide information. There are times when that’s needed. Two, to provide guidance as we did during the COVID-19 Crisis. Three, to provide comfort and calm. We did that during the Russia-Ukraine crisis. We did it during the George Floyd tragedy, during the Brianna Taylor issues. [Fourth Estate could not verify a letter about Brianna Taylor.] And then [four], to provide education. We did that during the affirmative action ruling. Those are the reasons why we write them to begin with.

Four letters of recent time have caused some controversy, and I want to address them and address them directly. We wrote a letter on Oct. 10 about the unfolding war in Israel and Gaza, and that war was written as comfort and information. We wrote a follow-up letter to that on Oct. 17 that was written to address issues related to student protests. And I’m going to talk a little bit about that in detail here in a second. We wrote a third letter on Nov. 2 to introduce our 10-point plan [Fourth Estate determined that there are eight points according to the Patriot Plan for Community Safety and Well-Being.] to ensure student support and safety. And when we wrote the last one on Nov. 28 relevant to Islamophobia. So those were the communications. 

Look, we are never ever against you. We’re always for you. That’s why we are here. We are actually here to support you. And while we may disagree and tell you some things that we disagree with, it does not mean that we are against who you are. 

Our support of one group of students does not mean that we are against another group. Just because we write a letter in support of one group, it does not mean that we are against another group. If I write a letter in support of Jewish students, it does not mean that I’m against Muslim or Palestinian students. And if I write a letter in support of something that our Muslim students are dealing with, or our Palestinian students are dealing with, it does not mean that I’m against Jewish students. We only write letters in support. Read the letters. We have copies of them in the back so that you can actually read the detail. 

Our support of one group of students does not mean that we support their government or any government. “I support one group of students,” doesn’t mean that we support the government or any other government? We’re in the business of supporting our students here. We’re not in the business of supporting or opining about governments. Again, that’s very clear in our letters. 

Our support for each group is based on the needs of that group. [unintelligible] in that regard, it may not look the same in terms of our support for one group relative to our support for another, because the individual needs are different and the actual groups are different. And just because we tell you something that you have done this wrong, it still doesn’t mean we don’t support you. It means that we got a problem with something that you’re doing and that it needs to change. And ultimately, our goal is to protect and support all of the students in our institution.

Let me talk a little bit about some of the questions that I’ve received directly from you about the Israeli-Hamas conflict. 

One, why did you not say anything about the atrocities committed by Israel on the Palestinians during this current conflict? Look, when my letter was written on Oct. 23 [Fourth Estate could not locate a letter from Oct. 23.], the Israeli bombing when terms would be seen at this point, had not started in my letter on Oct. 17. The Oct. 17 letter directly addresses the deaths of innocent Palestinians. It’s written in the letter. 

Why did you not say anything about the atrocities committed by Israel? By the Palestinians since 1947? The issue’s a complicated one, [“No it’s not.” A protestor interjected.] extraordinary. Since 1947, there have been five wars going back [to] 1948, 1958,1967, 1973, 1982 [unintelligible.] This is an extraordinarily complex issue. [“Apartheid is not complicated.” A different protestor interjected.] You’ll get your opportunity to talk. You can make your statements then.

Why did you say the [Oct. 7] attack on Israel was a terrorist attack? Is it important to call out things for what they are? You can’t defend the indefensible. I called it a terrorist attack, because it was a terrorist attack. I did not call any student a terrorist. I called what Hamas did a terrorist attack. It was a terrorist attack.

Relative to this, look, we have to be able to have discussions about things when they happen, while they’re happening and in real time. And so it was very important for us as a campus, looking at what was happening on our campus at this specific point in time, and looking at what a number of our student groups were outwardly writing about this issue, to call attention to the fact that it was a terrorist issue and not indicative of anything that the university supports. 

Again, I have letters back there from SJP that highlights what they wrote on Oct. 9 after the attack in Israel. Those of you who are students who have not read that should read it, so that you understand the context of why we say what we say, and why we do what we do. I am not the person that’s [going to] run from any type of conflict. I stand firm, I stand strong and I will tell you how I feel about an issue. [I am] just not built that way. Okay? And so before you step, understand that I will respond. 

Why is the community angry at our students? We have received now hundreds of letters and calls, mostly angry, that we are allowing student protests and we are allowing our students to use hateful language. I have received numerous threats in the press. I’ve had calls from my job in the press for allowing our students to protest. That is a fact. 

Why did you not say anything? [unintelligible] Why did you not speak about more about Islamophobia like you did about antisemitism? We addressed the antisemitism when we did because we had more than 70 incident reports that came to our offices [which] were about instances of antisemitism. And given the size of the two groups on campus, we felt that we needed to address it. We’ve had now two confirmed assaults on students. Those were both to students of Jewish descent. And so we felt the need to address that to the broader community. 

Why is the campus not [unintelligible] for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim students in general? Well, we are supporting all of our students. How do we support? Look, I have been asked on numerous occasions to stop the student protests. Even when you’re protesting against me, I still support it because I support freedom of speech. 

The reality of the situation is right now the university is under investigation by the Department of Education because we’ve allowed the protests to continue. Go read the letter. I have it in the back for you. The formal letter from the Department of of Education Office of Civil Rights [will] highlight this.

So before you say you’re not being supported, that’s a fact. That is a fact. We have been managing issues related to freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. We have been doing that in manner that we believe [is] in alignment with university values. That’s what you want your institution to do. The institution stands for certain principles, and as the leader of that institution, I stand on the principles in which the university has stood for. You know what that’s called? And I do it even when it’s in the face of adversity, that’s actually called leadership. That’s what you expect your leaders to do. 

I’ve supported this community and shielded them from a very, very hostile community that actually wants to do you harm. I can’t go through all of the individual issues relevant to this, but it is true and I got the proof and the emails and the telephone calls to validate it. 

So as I wrap up, look, we are here to support you. We are here for you. I know of no other way to support you outside of the ways in which we’re supporting all of you. I know some of you don’t like what’s happening. I don’t either. Okay? 

In my leisure, I call in my letters for Palestinian self-determination, for Palestinian state. I support that, all right? I also support Israeli and Jewish safety and defense. I support both.

Just because you support one it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to support the other there’s no rules that say you have to support one and not the other. You can actually support both because in a lot of sense both are correct. 

What’s happening now in Israel is an atrocity and we have to deal with it and we have to address it as a community. So I don’t want you to think that we’re against you, in any stretch of imagination or against any of it. We support all of them. 

I will leave you with one word of advice before I open it up for questions: Don’t turn on each other.

I have received numerous reports of students [like] Jewish students who longer talk to their Muslim friends, or Muslim students who no longer talk and communicate with their Jewish friends. People who they used to connect with, people who they used to engage, those conversations are not happening now. 

That’s a problem. I don’t know any other way to tell you. People are not their governments. People are people. And they should be judged and engaged based on who they are, and the content of their individual character. Not by who you think they represent. I know what that feels like. I’ve experienced that. People look at you and think that you are a certain way, that you are a certain type [and] that you do certain things. And I can tell you unequivocally that it is wrong.

And so on that note, I will open it up for questions.

 

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TRANSCRIPT OF FEB. 8 STUDENT TOWN HALL: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FROM DR. WASHINGTON

A summarized transcript of questions asked by 11 attendants revolving around the Israel-Hamas war, funding and security topics along with protest demonstrations from Students in Justice For Palestine at George Mason University.

BY ERICA MUNISAR, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Editor’s Note: Fourth Estate published a summarized transcript of questions and answers from the Feb. 8 Student Town Hall. Due to the nature of the town hall, in which protestors and Dr. Washington rapidly exchanged responses over the period of an hour, including numerous follow-up questions, the responses were edited for clarity and do not reflect Dr. Washington’s full statements per question asked.

[Questioning portion of Town Hall begins at 1:17 p.m.] 

Who are the approved members that can ask for identification in the new Concealment of Identity policy? What qualifies as a face covering, and how will this policy be enforced?

We put mechanisms in place to ensure that people are identified once they enter a venue or protest…

We’ve been using university staff from university life and from our risk and assessment team who’ve been checking the IDs, and they’ve been supported by the police. This came about by state law [Code of Virginia § 18.2-422]. We were required to do this… The individuals who are doing the checks are given very, very strict instructions as to what it implies…

Again, this is not a Mason rule, this is a state of Virginia law. You know why it was put in place? It was put in place because the Ku Klux Klan was wearing hoods to hide their identity when they were protesting and committing atrocities in the state of Virginia. 

President Washington, three and a half months ago I was in your office as lead organizer with Students for Justice in Palestine… You claimed in conversations with myself as well as numerous Palestinian students over the past four months that you know more about what we call Palestine… because you have been to Israel more than five times… Do you feel you still have more knowledge than us because of your trips? When you have done so little?

I have never said that I know more than anybody… What I did tell you is that I knew things about the issue. I have never said that I know more than the people in this room. I would never say that… You are entitled to your own beliefs. You are not entitled to your own facts.

You recorded the conversation, play it for the people… and you will see that I did not say that… Just because some people think you heard something, it [does not] mean that is what I said.

Could you please consider a halt on the increases of tuition, or a halt to the student fees?

As you know, there are five R1 institutions in the state of Virginia. Of those five R1 doctoral institutions, Mason has the fourth lowest tuition. We live in the region that is by far the highest cost of living in the state, and in the top five highest cost of living regions in the whole country. 

I have to balance what the tuition is relative to what resources we need in order to provide the faculty and staff to be able to teach and support them. The fact that our tuition is as low as it is, given the constraints that we have, and that we are still able to operate, is actually a testimony to success…

We’re working on ways to help those students who are most vulnerable… We’ve actually done a tremendous job in lowering the cost for those that are most vulnerable…We will continue to drop that number as much as we possibly can. And we have mechanisms in place to do more.

Our school has heavy ties with the military industrial complex… We live close to D.C. and people need to be employed, but it’s also something that really needs to be addressed, and I absolutely haven’t seen that from the administration.

Let me address that directly…

The companies that engage our campus, whether our our whole host of companies, they’re all the companies that ingratiate the Northern Virginia area, not just defense contractors. It’s Amazon, it’s Microsoft, it’s apple, it’s everybody… George Mason University is a public institution. Those corporations pay public taxes…

They engage with us for students. Those students graduate and they go work for those companies. A large percentage of students come to Mason to engage and get jobs from the very companies that you’re telling me to divest from. 

Everybody doesn’t see the world the same way. And so, if you don’t want those companies involved with Mason, it is extraordinarily easy to stop it. You have agency. Don’t take jobs there, don’t  apply there, don’t work there and guess what the companies will do? They will go to another university that’s willing to supply their talent.

We have 40,000 students. A significant percentage of those students would love to take a job at Raytheon. Just because you don’t think you should take a job there… what about those students who actually are trying to get jobs at those companies?

[Follow-up Question] It isn’t just about jobs or people’s individual choice to have jobs. It’s about community responsibilities.

I hear you, but the same companies that you will say “okay, well that company created a bomb that caused damage over [there],” that same company produces the weapon that will defend your freedom [Protestor interjections unintelligible]…

That same company provides the weapons that allow America to be what America is [Protestor interjections unintelligible]… And that is the good and the bad. And without it… we would be living in a very, very different position here in a country without that protection. Look, again, these are complex, complex issues. 

I am a representative for Students for Justice in Palestine… It is also public knowledge that George Mason University is investing in American corporations [which are] profiting from the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. $26 million, approximately 10% of the student investment fund, is funding the ongoing genocide to murder innocent civilians, men, women and children. You are complicit… It is on the George Mason University website.

We don’t know where that number came from. Don’t trust what you read on social media. What website? You’re going to have to show me that… 

George Mason University does not actually invest money anywhere. There is a separate 501(c)(3) called George Mason University Foundation that actually does all of the investments for the campus. It’s a separate 501(c)(3) with a separate leader with a separate board. It does not answer to the Board of Visitors, and it does not answer to the President… It is not your tuition dollars.

[Follow-up Question] And your statement about these weapon manufacturers helping to protect our freedom… Do Palestinians not have that same right? By providing them weapons, we are giving them the power to kill more Palestinians.

They [Palestinians] have the same right… The weapons that are used, are used to not only support individuals… but they can also be used for harm. It’s not the weapons themselves that’s the problem here. It’s the individuals behind the weapon that’s pulling the trigger… You’re focused on something different than what the issue is…You’re going after the weapon and not the people.

But what I will tell you is that’s not a decision that your president makes… We’re not in the bombs making business and we’re not in a bomb supporting business. We don’t do any of those things. We’re in the student graduation and support business.

Hello, President Washington. Over the course of these four months…there have also been increasing cases of hate crimes against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims here in the United States… [Your] students are all vulnerable to attacks just like these, and what exactly have you done to ensure their safety?

Part of the reason that you’ve seen an increased police presence is actually not to surveil or to intimidate you. It’s actually to protect you…

The 10 point plan [Fourth Estate determined there are eight points according to the Patriot Plan for Community Safety and Well-Being.] that we put in place, the Patriot Plan, is a big part of the reason why we haven’t had those same incidences on our campus that you’ve seen happening elsewhere

We do have police reports. We do have bias incident reports… We take this information seriously and we monitor it, so we have a pretty decent idea of what’s happening how students are being protected and our students alone. Can we stop every single incident from happening? No. But we have thwarted incidences from happening. I can tell you that.

[Follow-up question] Those counter-protesters went into people’s faces and literally verbally attacked [SJP Protestors], if not physically tried to attack them [as claimed by SJP Mason].

You’re not entitled to your own facts. Look, there was no student assaulted physically in the counter protest… Just because somebody says something to you, just because somebody calls you out in your name, or says something negative. That is known as physical assault. They actually have a right to say that under the same rationale and reason that you have a record saying what you want to say. And yes, they said some vile things. But you weren’t protected. And those individuals were escorted off of our campus to keep anything else from happening…

We do have video evidence… and I can tell you that no student was physically assaulted, at least not in anything that I saw. There was no report… Where’s the Chief? I know he’s here somewhere. Chief, did we get a physical report of anybody physically assaulted? [Chief of Police Carl Rowan says no], were you there? [Rowan says yes.] Okay…

You’re going to be in an environment where you might not feel intellectually safe, but you will be physically safe to the fullest extent that we can provide for you… Take a look at the data. It’s one of the safest campuses in the whole country. 

It is our understanding that there are new policies regarding face masks and a requirement for students to show identification should they have [a mask on]… For disabled activists like me, face masks are vital in [the COVID-19 pandemic]… As someone who especially struggles with fine motor skills, pulling out my ID when prompted can be a struggle. Thus, I and many others are faced with the dilemma of either attending political actions…or forcibly [staying] at home… Why will you not support and protect disabled activists at GMU?

We don’t tell you that you can’t wear your face coverings. We just tell you that somebody has to identify who you are… That’s our way of meeting the spirit of the law while simultaneously allowing you to protest, and not doing what other institutions are doing when students show up in face masks and shut the whole protest down… You will see that we are actually supporting First Amendment speech more than you think. 

We can actually develop an accommodation for you relative to that issue, and we have people here who can help you do that…

Let me say one other thing while i’m on this subject… There’s a reason why people are angry and you’re seeing such a pushback [with shut down protests by other institutions]… When our students marched across campus and you use slogans like from the river to the sea, we have other students who see that as the annihilation of their culture… When you have student groups who literally write letters in support of what Hamas did on Oct. 7, that angers people…

[“Once again, you didn’t answer the question and you fail to support your students. You are gaslighting your students.” An SJP Mason protestor interjected.]

How are you proposing that we as a community open this discussion going forward? There is quite a bit of unrest on campus.

We have faculty who are doing a series of teachings and lectures. I have sat down with groups of faculty on both sides on the Jewish side, and on the Muslim side and I have asked those to pull together courses and information to help people understand what is truly and really happening. [“This isn’t Jews versus Muslims.” a protestor interjected.]

When I say engage with one another, I mean engage with someone who believes differently from you on this very issue. Talk to them see their side of the issue. Help them see your side of the issue, but do so in a respectful and engaged manner. That’s how we all get better.

I’ve listened to you pretty much justify a lot of administration’s actions. I’ve also heard you phrase a lot of what’s going on in Palestine today as a Jewish versus Muslim conflict… You’ve also said that it’s a complex issue… So my question to you is, what part of Jewish safety necessitates settler colonialism? 

[Speaker told Washington to look at him while he is speaking. “Look at me. Look at me. Don’t look around. Look at me.” said the speaker.]

Listen to me, we’re not going there. I will sit you down son, you will not disrespect me. You don’t tell me to look at you.

The reality is I believe and support both Israeli safety and security and Palestinian statehood. I believe that both are achievable in the context of what we have today. Right. The fact of the matter is that you got current leadership in Israel, and current leadership in Hamas [who] don’t want that…

I’m not making a political statement here to justify one thing or the other because I’m not qualified to do so. Remember, we don’t make statements for political ends or means. We make statements to do the four things that I highlighted, above, to instruct, to console, to comfort [and] to educate…

Mr. Washington, I’m dying to ask this question. What can you do on campus to ensure mental health?

We’ve added an increased support for a system called Timely MD, if you all have not signed up for it, it’s available to all of you as students. You should all set up an account if you have not done so already.

Then we increased support for CAPS… our psychological services that actually helps students in need. So we’ve increased dramatically the amount of support for those entities.

I have been in Jammu and Kashmir. I have been shot three to four times by the Indian military… I know exactly what the Palestinians go through on a daily basis… And honestly about your statements with Palestinians, I find it despicable… You’re not able to call it a genocide in against the Palestinians in Gaza… Thank you very much.

[Following a four minute speech from the attendant, attendants of the town hall cheered at the end of the statement. The town hall concluded at this time by 2:23.]

So on that note, I want to thank you all for coming. God bless. Have a great afternoon.